A review by ira_reads
Dance of Thieves by Mary E. Pearson

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75


Content Warning: Violence, Death, Assault, Torture, PTSD, Kidnapping, Animal Death, War Themes.

Overall Rating: 5/5
Setting: 4.5/5
Characters: 5/5
Plot: 5/5

“Make a wish, Kazi, one for tomorrow, for the next day, and the next. One will always come true.”

What I loved:
  • Enemies to lovers
  • Banter
  • Amazing side characters that have distinct personalities
  • Morally gray main character
  • Betrayal(very cruel prince like)
  • Politics
Tropes:
  • Enemies to lovers(but make it complicated)
  • Betrayals
  • Forced proximity
  • False relationship
  • Found family

Premise:
Dance of Thieves by Mary E. Pearson is a Young Adult High Fantasy. It is narrated by two POV’s, one by Jase Ballenger and the other by Kazimyrah of Brightmist. Kazimyrah, or Kazi, has spent her childhood as a thief known as Ten. She is sent by the Queen of Venda to a place called Tor’s Watch to investigate the problems in their kingdom. This kingdom’s ruler, or Patrei, is Jase Ballenger. Upon arrival, both her and Jase are thrown together in a battle against nature, conspiring powers, and their own tragic pasts.

“Choose your words carefully, even the words you think, because they become seeds, and seeds become history.” 

Setting:
I read this book with no background knowledge of the kingdoms and relationships between them. I had not read the prequel series, The Remnant Chronicles, but I was still able to grasp the world and all the information it presented. Granted, some parts of the book did feel like info-dumps disguised as ‘stories’, but I suppose that is just smart writing. The author built an interesting, dark, world that made it feel very medieval. Even with all of this, she didn’t make the world feel purely Eurocentric as you do with many other high fantasy novels, which I appreciated a lot.

“Guard your heart, Patrei. I see a knife hovering, ready to cut it out.”

Characters:
Each character in this book had amazing personalities and were still developed thoroughly. The two main characters, Jase and Kazi, both had distinguishable personalities and weren’t just a trope(which I see getting more and more common among book characters). Jase is a very likeable character who’s actions are very predictable. He doesn’t deviate much from the path for any selfish reasons. Kazi, on the other hand, is very morally gray. She still cares a lot for other people’s well beings even if they are not her close friends, but her own personal motivations sometimes prevent her from doing the right things. With the side characters in relation to Jase, you see characters very similar to Jase, all raised in the same privileged household, seeing the same tragedies. Alternatively on Kazi’s side, her friends are her family. And they come from all sorts of different backgrounds and we see much more variation in personalities and motivations. They have much deeper and interesting backstories.

“It began with the stars.”



Plot:
Let me tell you something. Ivery rarely care about plot as much as I care about a character’s journey. But this. This book’s plot was so intertwined with the character’s journey that I can’t separate them. This book was so up and down with betrayals and make-ups and more betrayals. Honestly it was a whirlwind and I was here for it. Kazi and Jase’s motivation had so much to do with the moving forward of the plot. I love it when the problems start because of the main character. This book will leave you wondering who’s going to do something stupid because it feels like you form a personal relationship with the characters.

“Then hold on to me,” he said. “Let me show you the stars.” 

Conclusion:
This was an amazing 5 star read that had all the things I love in a fantasy. I was constantly waiting for the next plot twist, and I would recommend this to any amateur fantasy reader. If you love a book with equally good romance and plot, please pick this up. As someone who hasn’t read the Remnant Chronicles(prequel series), this book was pretty easy to pick up and you won’t be left behind.

Similar Books:
  • Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
  • The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
  • We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal
  • The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi





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